Yea! Thursday!

I don't know why, but markets took a jump up today. They say you should never look a gift horse in the mouth, but this one is curious. Oil prices did not fall. In fact, everyone is wondering what will happen this winter as we all try to heat our homes with natural gas and oil. Predictions are for sticker shock in a few months when we get those heating bills. I guess it's time to get out my long johns. Despite concern for oil, markets responded nicely today to an upcoming weekend with no storm on the horizon. Tech stocks had the best showing, with the NASDAQ up over 1%. Dow +79.69 NASDAQ +25.82 S&P 500 +10.79

Mid-Week

The middle of the week brought little movement on the markets. NASDAQ continued to slip a little, while some gains were seen in the large-cap area. An interesting report came out about the competitiveness of various countries. We're number 2! Behind Finland! It seems the Scandinavians are very good at using technology and at managing their finances. Read the report in the WSJ at http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112791215561554472,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us. Dow +16.88 NASDAQ -1.02 S&P 500 +1.23

Tuesday Reports

Consumer confidence slid dramatically. This is no surprise, considering the natural disasters hitting us in the last few weeks. Consumers may be pulling in the purse strings, and just when the biggest season for retail is kicking off. New home purchases also took a hit, down a large 10%. And, when Mr. Greenspan talks, people listen. This time, he's bragging that the job done by the Fed may have been so good that it's bad for the market!?! It seems he thinks investors are taking on too much risk. Despite the bad reports and naysayers, Wall Street, pretty much, held its own today. Dow +12.58 NASDAQ -5.04 S&P 500 +0.03

New Monday

With Rita behind us, markets are breathing a sigh of relief. Stocks immediately climbed today but gave back after oil continued to rise. President Bush is vowing to release more of the strategic reserves to help relieve the pressure. That was welcome news. On another investment front, home sales increased. Is this a result of evacuees deciding to permanently relocate? In my area, the answer is yes. Mr. Greenspan is still anticipating a decline in the real estate market but says homeowners can stand the price decline. Markets finished on a positive note. Dow +24.04 NASDAQ +4.62 S&P 500 +0.34

At Last... Friday

Rita is fast approaching and, thankfully, weakening some as it moves toward land. The Sun Herald has some of the best radar images, showing how the feeder bands are giving more grief to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We'll still have to wait and see how this affects oil production and refineries, but any relief from Rita's wrath is welcome. The market spent most of the day holding its breath. As we finished on Friday, NASDAQ actually picked up about 1/4%. The Dow was down slightly, and the broader S&P was up slightly. Entergy New Orleans filed for bankruptcy, but it appears this move will only allow its holding company, Entergy, Inc. (ENT), to step in with the checkbook. Dow -2.46 NASDAQ +6.06 S&P 500 +0.67